Text and Artwork by katherine sandoz
It’s a known fact that salt figures greatly in all things, especially in seasoning conversation and supper. The following is one fact that is not so readily known that I picked up from a great Southern lady who happens to be my neighbor: Certainly, the salt is on the table with the pepper. We taste our food first, and then we ask for the transfer that originates from the left and travels right. It never arrives from across and don’t you sneak a shake prior to answering the call.
Now here’s the new one on me and maybe on you: the vessels (both the salt and the pepper) must be placed directly on the table, NOT in the hands of the hopeful briner.
“Why is this so?” I asked.
“It’s just bad luck.”
I ask again, “But why is it bad luck?”
“Well, because my mother said so and her mother and her mother did, too.”
So, sidle up, settle in and be prepared. You never know whose great-granddaughter might be remarking on your table salt manners.
media: watercolor, salt
patterns: salt & pepper tweed stitch, salt sound waves
8.5” x 11”
february 2012
original Salted & Styled artwork available here
